RMAN: Merged Incremental Backup Strategies

Applies to:

Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition - Version 10.1.0.2 and laterInformation in this document applies to any platform.
***Checked for relevance on 22-Apr-2013***

Goal

There are several ways to use a Merged Incremental Backup Strategy. However, before implementing the strategy, there are several things to consider when not using the basic Oracle Suggested Strategy as given in EM. This note will cover the different ways to implement your strategy tailored to fit your business needs.

What is a Merged Incremental Backup?

Merged Incremental creates a level 0 image copy backup of all of your database's datafiles in a disk location. All datafiles are backed up using the same tag name. The Oracle Database 10g feature Block Change Tracking can be used for the incremental level 1 backups for Fast Incremental Backups.

Once a level 0 backup copy is created on disk there is no need for future level 0 backups to be taken. This reduces the load and backup window for VLDB systems. All future backups will be level 1 backupsets and are used to recover the image copies on disk thus making the current level 0 image backup copies more current each time the level 1 incremental is applied. Having the level 0 image copy newer with each level 1 incremental backupsets means there is no need to make another level 0 backup/image copy of your database.

Solution

Sign In with your My Oracle Support account

Don't have a My Oracle Support account? Click to get started

My Oracle Support provides customers with access to over a Million Knowledge Articles and hundreds of Community platforms